Lord of Annihilation

Dealing with those trailing enemies had greatly reduced the immediate danger faced by Lucius and bought him a much-needed sense of respite. Unfortunately, however, he did not have the luxury to enjoy this moment of respite.

For you see, Lucius was currently in a great deal of pain. It wasn't the kind of simple pain that originated from your physical body, but the complex kind of pain that resulted from having your soul teetering on the edge of destruction.

Over two minutes had passed since the release of his unsuppressed murderous intent. Lucius' Stage 3 soul could not afford to bear the pressure exerted by his murderous intent and was currently on the verge of collapsing.

Retracting his murderous intent right now wasn't a solution since the degree of self-destruction had already crossed this point, rendering this action null. 

The only way to stop his soul from being ripped into pieces and for him to continue living was by completing his ascension. This would not only increase the Stage of his soul which would result in his soul becoming stronger and more stable, thus being able to bear the pressure for longer periods, but also heal the current fissures and cracks to a perfect state.

As such, it had once again become Lucius' priority to climb the golden steps as soon as possible. Having already climbed sixty-three steps and having defeated their respective Rule Guardians, he only had less than a half to go, to reach the top.

Single-mindedly ignoring the pain from his soul which increased in intensity with each passing moment, Lucius continued to leap onto the next step, dodge past the instantly manifested Rule Guardian, deflect the illusory chains that randomly charged at him using Thorn, and leaped up once again. 

Like a well-oiled machine, Lucius repeated the same sequence of actions over and over again with each subsequent step. 

The earlier battle had allowed him to learn about the movement patterns of both; the Rule Guardians and the illusory chains, and thus greatly eased the pressure faced by him compared to the start. Their movements, while seemingly random at first glance, followed an intricate sequence of directions which made them predictable.

The Rule Guardians, for example, primarily sought to constrain the ascender and stop them from climbing onto the next step. As such, while their actions seemed aggressive with the intent to strike down the ascender, it was, in fact, defensive. 

The illusory Bindings of Cause, on the other hand, did not randomly choose the area of the body that they wanted to latch onto. In truth, the chains always chose the area of Lucius' body within which the highest concentration of energy existed.

To give an instance, when the illusory chains first latched onto Lucius, it aimed for his ankle. This was because Lucius was indiscriminately pouring his soul power into his left feet in preparation for the jump into the next golden step. 

During the battle earlier, the bindings aimed at Lucius' left shoulder as he spent most of his energy on the attack using Thorn. 

To summarize, since Lucius had understood how the illusory bindings worked, he could not trick them into moving towards a spot from where he could easily avoid them.

This one finding alone, greatly reduced the pressure faced by him, making the rest of the journey towards the tope easier.

Seventieth step…eighty-fifth step….ninety-ninth step…one hundred and seventh step! With seconds to spare, Lucius managed to climb onto the penultimate step and leaped off its end onto the final step.

The moment he stepped onto the final step, Lucius felt the energy in the space around him to be greatly different. Unlike the previous steps where the energy was extremely hostile and repulsive, the energy on his golden platform felt warm and inviting.

Recognizing this bout of warm energy, Lucius eased his caution and allowed the golden energy to enter his body. Instantly, the energy surged into his broken, wounded body and rushed towards his mindspace.

Entering his mindspace, the deluge of energy swept past the almost barren seas of blackness (void energy), climbed over the crumbling Domain, and crashed onto his soul which was on the verge of breakage. The moment this happened, Lucius felt the pain originating from his soul, greatly reduce. A warm, comforting feeling enveloped him and rapidly regenerated his mental energy.

Knowing that there was no Rule Guardian on the final step, Lucius stopped his steps and turned around. He saw the illusory chains crashing against the boundary of the golden platform, unable to enter this space. Grumbling unsatisfied, they radiated an aura of reluctance and slowly disappeared.

Realizing that the Fake Bindings of Cause would not bother him any longer, Lucius threw down his weapons and slumped down on the floor exhausted. The remaining Rule Guardians from the floors beneath him had yet to catch up. And even if they did, Lucius knew that they wouldn't be able to enter the space atop the final platform.

As such, he allowed himself to relax a bit and worked on recovering his mental energy and soul power. 

The golden energy from the final step continued to slowly heal the fractures within his soul while easing the burden from his murderous intent. They did not, however, help him in recovering his soul power, void power, or upgrade his soul into its next Stage. 

This would require him to deal with the annoying assailants who banged against the outside of the invisible barrier. As such, Lucius had not truly finished his ordeal and began his ascension.

Spending exactly one hundred seconds lying on the floor with his eyes closed, Lucius snapped his eyes open and jumped onto his feet. 

Grabbing the pitch-black scythe from beside him, Lucius held it with both his hands, inhaled a lungful of fresh air, and slumped forward.

Lucius' steps, which used to be graceful and unfettered, suddenly turned heavy and solemn. The scythe within his hands dropped to the point where its edge was touching the ground and grinding against it.

Assuming a stance where he seemed to be pulling something of great weight, Lucius stepped forward once again. An incredibly heavy, suppressive, and solemn pressure descended on the air, as Lucius took one heavy step after another.

The gentle, golden energy around him reeled back and created a vacuum of power which was filled in by Lucius' remaining bits of soul power and void energy. Space started to twist and churn as delusory, dancing figures started to appear once after the other.

Opening his mouth by a tiny crack, Lucius lifelessly declared.

"[Fourth Movement:]—"

----------

On top of one of the floating platforms atop the Northern City Walls of the Royal City, an expressionless Ka'lor'ah and a semi-mediating Olivia, found themselves surrounded by a contingent of Royal Giant Guards. 

Each of the guards radiated a fearsome Stage 4 aura and a pressure of experience. It was evident that every single one of them was a talented, battle-hardened warrior who had participated in numerous battles throughout their lifetime. 

"May I know the meaning of this, your majesty?" asked Ka'lor'ah, addressing the Giant who floated in the air above these guards.

"Why don't we drop all pretenses and just say what's on our minds?" replied Klytius, softly. "I'm capturing the two of you."

"On what grounds?" Ka'lor'ah asked, dropping the formal address.

"Suspected of belonging to the [Evil] faction," came the reply.

"Your evidence?" 

Klytius simply extended both his hands and gestured towards the boundless expanse of red clouds floating in their vicinity, "This is all my evidence."

He then let out a sigh and urged, "Look, little lass. Quietly surrender and cooperate with me and I promise that I'll be lenient on the two of you."

"What about Lucius?" This time, it was Olivia who spoke up.

Hearing that question, a look of regret appeared on Klytius' face for a single instant which was then immediately replaced by solemnity. 

"No matter how good our relationship was, I must be impartial while carrying out my duties. I cannot be biased in my judgment in the face of a potential demon of the [Evil] faction."

"Then I'm afraid that our 'cooperation' ends here. We will not be abandoning, much less, turning against our companion," Ka'lor'ah replied.

Having expected such an answer, Klytius let out a sigh. A part of him, however, greatly appreciated their unrelenting character. 

'Even when presented with an escape in the face of absolute danger, these two weak, little ones chose to stand by their companion. If only they didn't belong to the [Evil] faction, we could've been good brothers.'

Bottling away his admiration, Klytius opened his mouth and ordered.

"Capture the tw—" Klytius' words were suddenly drowned out by a soft yet strangely resonant voice.

"[Obliterate]!"